Dance

The company’s two-week season at the Joyce is the last with its pioneering founder, Tina Ramirez, as artistic director. To cap off her estimable tenure of nearly forty years, she takes the stage for a small role in Graciela Daniele’s “Stages.” The first week also includes the première of Carlos Sierra Lopez’s “Carmen” adaptation, “Destino Incierto,” and former members of the Tito Puente Orchestra accompanying “Tito on Timbales.” (175 Eighth Ave., at 19th St. 212-242-0800. Oct. 7-8 at 7:30, Oct. 9-10 at 8, Oct. 11 at 2 and 8, and Oct. 12 at 2 and 7:30. Through Oct. 19.)

OTHERSHORE

Brandi Norton and Sonja Kostich, two dance veterans with vastly different backgrounds, have formed a company of their own. For their début at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, they’ve commissioned three works, from Edwaard Liang (a former New York City Ballet dancer), Stacy Matthew Spence (formerly with Trisha Brown), and Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar (of Big Dance Theatre). (450 W. 37th St. 212-279-4200. Oct. 9-11 at 8 and Oct. 12 at 3.)

DRE.DANCE

Taye Diggs and his less famous co-choreographer, Andrew Palermo, get into the election-season spirit with an evening-long political piece. “The People” imagines a party at which all factions are represented, from the religious right to the radical left. The saxophonist Rob Reddy and his band perform Reddy’s original score. (Tribeca Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St. 212-220-1460. Oct. 9-11 at 8.)

CAPACITOR

Not many dance troupes appear in the magazine Nature. This San Francisco-based outfit has developed a reputation for translating scientific ideas into striking theatre. “Biome,” its latest project, was developed with tree scientists on location in the Monteverde Cloud Forest, in Costa Rica. Film footage from that excursion—wet, naked bodies crammed into a hollow trunk—complements the dancers, who are decked out in simian furs and fencing gear. (Joyce SoHo, 155 Mercer St. 212-352-3101. Oct. 9-11 at 8 and Oct. 12 at 3.)

KITT JOHNSON X-ACT

Danspace Project brings in the Danish choreographer to perform her solo “Rankefod” (the title refers to an ancient form of barnacle). With extraordinary control, Johnson evolves from a headless, armless creature, all back, into a woman of severe beauty. (St. Mark’s In-the-Bowery, Second Ave. at 10th St. 866-811-4111. Oct. 9-11 at 8:30.)

“REWIND”

“Rewind,” the first theatrical program by the B-boys of Knucklehead Zoo, is an hour-long bid to attract a wider audience, combining old-school moves, a beatboxer, and a d.j. with state-of-the-art routines that borrow from acrobatics, capoeira, and anything else that will get a crowd cheering. (New Victory, 209 W. 42nd St. 646-223-3010. Oct. 10 at 7, Oct. 11 at 2 and 7, and Oct. 12 at noon and 5. Through Oct. 19.)

AMY CARON

In “Waves of Mu,” the Salt Lake City-based performance artist explores the complex, cutting-edge science of “mirror neurons”—neurons that activate when, say, we grab something, but also when we see another person grab something—through a mixed format of video interviews and projections, interactive sports-viewing, mock-scientific lectures, and audience participation. (P.S. 122, at 150 First Ave., at 9th St. 212-352-3101. Oct. 10-11 and Oct. 14 at 7:30 and Oct. 12 at 5:30. Through Oct. 19.)

SAN FRANCISCO BALLET

The venerable ballet troupe—the oldest professional ballet company in the country—is celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary with a nationwide tour, showing off highlights from its ambitious New Works Festival. In the past two decades, the artistic director, Helgi Tomasson, has made it into a gleaming ensemble, with many bright talents in its roster (which now includes Sofiane Sylve, formerly of N.Y.C.B.) and a rich blend of the classic and the innovative in its repertoire, including a well-maintained dose of Balanchine (“Divertimento No. 15,” “The Four Temperaments”), as well as a growing collection of Tomasson’s own neoclassical ballets. Some highlights include Christopher Wheeldon’s sensual new work “Within the Golden Hour,” Mark Morris’s playful and percussive “Joyride” (with fabulous futuristic costumes by Isaac Mizrahi), and, for fans of the Finnish choreographer Jorma Elo, “Double Evil,” his latest quirky, propulsive ballet, set to a Philip Glass score. For the full program, visit www.nycitycenter.org. (City Center, 131 W. 55th St. 212-581-1212. Oct. 10-11 at 8, Oct. 12 at 3, and Oct. 14 at 7:30. Through Oct. 18.)

ACCRORAP

Being French, this hip-hop ensemble has grown up on subsidies and received ample encouragement to experiment. The troupe has no trouble offering up head spins to café accordion music, body language from the Bronx mixed with French whimsy. “Little Stories.com,” presented as part of the French Institute Alliance Française festival “I Kiffe NY: French Urban Cultures,” is a sketchbook of a show that resists urban stereotypes, often with physical comedy that wouldn’t be out of place in a silent movie. (Florence Gould Hall, 55 E. 59th St. 212-307-7171. Oct. 10-11 at 8.)

KATIE WORKUM DANCE THEATRE

Workum has the courage of her idiosyncrasies. The wide-ranging activities of the four central women in her new piece, “Carlisle,” suggest all manner of creatures, not excluding poor dancers looking to share a taxi home to Brooklyn after the show. They sing that request in one of the quirky little songs, also by Workum, that tip the oddity into absurd humor. Supplemented by a chorus of Korean dancers, the appealing cast moves through some dull patches into unpredictably delightful terrain. (Dance New Amsterdam, 280 Broadway, at Chambers St. 212-279-4200. Oct. 10 at 8:30, Oct. 11 at 3 and 8:30, and Oct. 12 at 3.)